And to further this point, how do you determine someone is a gold farmer selling the gold they earned for real money? As to when someone is actually farming for gold the same way. I know of ppl that have 2 accounts and transfer gold between them, how would this not mark them as a gold seller?
Do you agree that WoW is P2W?
Yes.
- You can buy gold with money and boosts with gold.
- You can buy gold with money and gear with gold. (Does not worth much though if you don’t know how to play your class.)
In this sense, WoW is P2W indeed.
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I think I’d just demand two-factor login. I don’t know why Blizzard don’t already do that.
That’s a legit trade. Player B is just a player using the Auction House.
Player A is a cheater using third-party sources to obtain gold through real-money trading.
So player A gets banned.
That’s how it’s always been. And it’s pretty easy to identify and track, because you just have to track the 10 million he received from the gold seller. And such trades are relatively few in WoW, and most would be suspicious of gold-selling activities.
The same way Blizzard have always done (when they’ve bothered): They just track the gold to its source, which is usually compromised accounts its stolen from, or bots its harvested from.
Ban, ban, ban.
It’s not difficult. They’ve done it before. It’s just the extent they’ve done it hasn’t been sufficient, which goes back to the lack of resources in the enforcement.
Oh yeah, once the gold is in the economy and has traded hands to a legit player, it’s there for good.
That’s always been the case. That will always be the case. That’s just the way it is.
No. You’ve done nothing wrong. No one has ever gotten banned for that, and neither should they.
In that sense all MMO is P2W, cuz gold sellers. Hello person that only read the title 
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How do you know he didn’t tell player A to buy his stuff on the AH for 1 million gold and paid him money to do that?
I answered the question!
And, buying gold from gold sellers is illegal. I assumed, the question was about legal game design.
The result is exactly the same, if tokens dissapeared it would only shift where ppl buy gold from and not a single thing would change.
Edit: ppl that have no qualms about buying gold what so ever do so. Those that feels like it cheapens the game dont. The legallity of it all matters little.
And hence my point. Lets say that Blizzard would start a “crackdown on boosters” as you would wish. Well boosters are crafty folks and will find a way to slip through.
In essence there will be two possible scenarios: Either its “prohibition” where Blizzard methods are completely wasted and there is more boosters than at the start or it will be “Roman Inquisition” where Blizzard will be shooting a shotgun blindfolded tonns of collateral damage(by banning innocent players).
I trade large-ish amounts of gold to a friend semi-regularly and they pay me back whenever. How do you prove we are not gold sellers. I mean I can mail them 100k each month and they pay me back with 1mill in 10 months.
So Player A is now selling his gold (that he bought with money) to Player B, for money outside the game, by buying a pointless item Player B has listed on the Auction House for 10 million?
In those cases Blizzard just investigates the trade history of Player A. If he has a history of buying Course Rocks for millions of gold that he’s been traded by someone else, then he’s probably up to no good.
Then you ban on grounds of suspicious activity. Blizzard have also done that in the past.
I don’t want Blizzard to crack down on boosters per se. You’re allowed to boost and carry people in the game for gold. That’s always been okay.
It’s the money trading that’s a problem. You’re not allowed to boost for money as it is, so nothing would change in that regard.
All Blizzard has to crack down on is the money → gold trading. That’s it. That’s the only problem there is (the paid Level Boost is a minor nuisance).
Exactly, its not as cut and dry as Jito thinks it to be. Extreamly hard to uphold with 0 bennefit and is sure to be a huge proffit loss.
Yes. Supply-demand. It comes from the game design. But it was not the question where people would buy the gold from or whether they would do that legally or illegally.
The question was if WoW was P2W right now, and the answer is yes. 
By the pattern of people you connect with?
I also have friends in the game I’ve traded gold to in the past. And those are also friends I play with and have a history of communication with.
That’s different from suddenly trading millions of gold to a character you’ve never interacted with before. And then trading millions of gold again to another character you’ve never seen before. And again. And again.
It becomes suspicious activity at some point because there’s a pattern of it. In your case it’s easy to verify that there isn’t.
Nope… wrong buzzword hitch hiking because you lack an actual buzzword that fits. All i see is mental gymnastics to make it fit. Nothing more.
What if I start selling choppers on the AH for 1 mil, while I secretly am telling people on discord to buy them off me for 1 mil in exchange for money?
As you wish.
You’re selling choppers for 1 million, and your customers are buying them for 1 million of their own gold. And then you give them money outside the game for that?
How’s that harmful to the game?
They’re buying a chopper for 1 million of their own hard-earned gold that they’ve farmed in the game, and you choose to tip them some money outside the game for doing so?
Eh, you’re not going to become a Saint for it, but I don’t see how it does damage to the game.
Have at it.
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I am buying gold from gold sellers by selling them choppers for 1 mil.
Okay, that’s an important detail you left out there. 
Then you get banned.
You’ve bought gold from a third-party.
Simple as.
Thats the point. I know they are gold sellers becasue I contacted them on discord. Blizzard doesn’t.